5.  Following the financial crisis in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as the subsequent collapse of the banking system in the 1990s, in 1998, 2002, and 2003 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as the respondent State itself adopted specific legislation accepting the conversion of foreign currency deposits in certain banks, including the Podgorička banka, into a public debt. The legislation set the time-frame (2017) and the amounts, including interest, to be paid back to the banks’ former clients (see paragraphs 27-41 below).
6.  The applicants were born in 1949 and 1950, respectively, and both live in Montenegro.
7.  On 20 September 1993 the Court of First Instance (Osnovni sud) in Podgorica rendered the first judgment in favour of the applicants’ mother ordering the Podgorička banka to pay to her: (i) 179,650.84 US dollars (USD), 59,539.97 German marks (DEM), 254,906.52 Italian liras (LIT) and 4,364.70 Swiss francs (CHF) on account of her foreign-currency savings; (ii) the applicable domicile sight deposit interest for the period between 1 January 1993 and 3 July 1993, plus 6% annual interest as of 3 July 1993; and (iii) 193,768,312 Yugoslav dinars (YUD) for legal costs.
8.  On 23 May 1994 the Court of First Instance in Podgorica rendered a second judgment in favour of the applicants’ mother ordering the Podgorička banka to pay to her: (i) USD 9,770 and DEM 25,700 on account of her foreign-currency savings; (ii) the accrued sight deposit interest, and (iii) YUD 1,584 for legal costs.
9.  On 27 June 1996 the same court rendered a third judgment in favour of the applicants’ mother, ordering the Podgorička banka to pay to her: (i) USD 147,620.64, DEM 126,661.39 and LIT 1,602.16 on account of an erroneous calculation of the applicable interest; (ii) the stipulated interest of 12.5%; and (iii) YUD 900 for legal costs.
10.  On various dates thereafter these judgments became final and enforceable.
11.  By 5 November 1998 enforcement orders in respect of the first and third judgments were issued. By 19 November 1999 the Court of First Instance terminated the enforcement of these two judgments relying on the Act on the Settlement of Obligations Arising from the Citizens’ Foreign Currency Savings (see paragraph 29 below). The applicants’ mother did not seek an enforcement order in respect of the second judgment at the time.
12.  Between December 2003 and February 2004 the applicants’ mother requested the enforcement of all three judgments against the Podgorička banka. On 30 March 2005 the Court of First Instance rejected these requests, on the basis that the Podgorička banka was no longer the debtor (nije pasivno legitimisana). The decision further explained that by virtue of the Act on the Citizens’ Foreign-Currency Savings 2003 the respondent State had taken over the debt from this bank, and that the Central Bank of Montenegro (Centralna banka Crne Gore) was responsible for the accuracy of the data taken from the records of the authorised banks (see paragraph 34 below).
13.  On 18 April 2005 and 19 April 2005 the Court of First Instance upheld the impugned decisions, endorsing the reasons contained therein.
14.  On 26 May 2004 the applicants requested the Real Estate Office (Direkcija za nekretnine) in Podgorica to register the enforcement orders against the Podgorička banka property (tražili zabilježbu u evidenciji rješenja o izvršenju na nepokretnostima). On 1 June 2004 the Real Estate Office rejected their request. On 23 November 2004 the Real Estate Administration (Uprava za nekretnine) upheld the previous decision and directed them to enforce their rights through the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. On 3 April 2007 the applicants’ request was rejected by the Administrative Court (Upravni sud).
15.  On 21 December 2004 the applicants’ mother requested the Central Bank to ensure the payment of the outstanding debt. On 7 April 2005 the Central Bank informed her that it lacked competence to deal with her case (nema ingerencije u [ovom] slučaju). In particular, it could not be held responsible for the accuracy of the relevant data as that was the responsibility of the authorised banks. In this regard the Central Bank referred to Article 7 § 5 of the Act on the Citizens’ Foreign-Currency Savings 2003 (see paragraph 36 below). In February and March 2006 the applicants, on behalf of their mother, requested again that the Central Bank pay the savings in question. On an unspecified date thereafter the Central Bank replied by referring to its previous letter of 7 April 2005, notably that it could not comply with their request. On 18 December 2007, upon yet another request from the applicants, this bank confirmed that there were no foreign-currency savings registered in respect of their mother.
16.  On 4 October 2005 the applicants’ mother was informed, upon her enquiry, by the Ministry of Finance that the authorised banks were responsible for the accuracy of the transferred data.
17.  After the applicants’ mother passed away in July 2006, the Court of First Instance rendered a decision on 5 May 2007 declaring the applicants her sole legal heirs and specifying that the inheritance consisted of the deposits (novčana sredstva) as established by the final courts’ judgments referred to above (see paragraphs 7-9 above).
18.  On 21 December 2007 the Podgorička banka informed the applicants that there was no evidence that the debt established by the domestic judgments had been paid. At the same time, they were informed that the Central Bank was responsible for the accuracy of the transferred data and that the applicants could obtain the official data concerning the transfer from the Central Bank.
19.  On several occasions the applicants’ mother and/or the applicants contacted the Ombudsman (Zaštitnik ljudskih prava i sloboda), and the Ministry of Justice (Ministarstvo pravde), but to no avail.
20.  It would appear that the debt established by the domestic courts’ judgments has never been registered by the Podgorička banka and transferred to the Central Bank.
21.  The applicants’ mother had another foreign-currency account with EUR 17,697.79, which amount was registered as public debt with the Central Bank and later converted into bonds. On an unspecified date in 2006 the applicants would appear to have sold the bonds for half of their value.